‘The Office:’ Back to Jan?

The Friday morning discussion of this week’s episode here at Potato Report Central was a bit contentious, since two of us found it high-larious and one felt too many scenes were too painful to be funny. So be sure you let us know what you thought by posting a comment below.

One of the naysayer’s issues was that the episode didn’t build enough on the brilliant cold open, and, I will admit, I was a little disappointed when the Halloween costumes vanished after the opening credits. But, once I got into the episode, I felt that, this far into the show’s run, we got just enough of the Dunder Mifflin Halloween spirit. Once you know there are three Jokers in the office, you see Andy in what appears to be a Rum Tum Tugger costume and Pam dressed as either Charlie Chaplin or Adolph Hitler up at the corporate office, you don’t really need much more than that.

The writers did their typically fine job of balancing the funny with the painful, particularly during the hellacious road trip to Nashua. Not surprisingly, given the fact that this was probably Michael & Holly’s swan song and the fact that his road trip supplies included puppets and a CD that seems to mostly consist of “Life is a Highway,” it was an excruciating drive for everyone in the vehicle (though frequently funny to watch). The deeply pained look on Darryl’s face when Michael told him that he would be driving back to Scranton with him was priceless, as was his quicky aborted attempt to teach Michael to sing the blues on the drive back.

Jim took advantage of Michael’s absence to drive up to New York to meet Pam and his brothers for a sometimes brutal lunch, in which she revealed herself to be, in the context of the Halpert clan, a prankster lightweight. (Which suggests that Jim may have actually been going easy on Dwight all these years.) Having Pam and Jim walk away plotting revenge was an excellent touch that took some of the sting out of the whole thing.

The meat of the episode’s comedy was back in Scranton, where Dwight continued to press for a renewal of his relationship with Angela by mimicking Andy. The entire story thread — from the Cornell sweatshirt to Dwight’s seemingly inexhaustable supply of Cornell trinkets and the dueling evaluations — showed that this show is frequently at its best when one character is needling another. Andy’s revenge — turning up at the end with a basket of beets that he didn’t quite know what to do with– also once again showed us that, in a battle with Dwight, he’s in waaaaay over his head.

What we learned: Michael is terrified that he will wind up re-ensnared by Jan. And Creed is apparently a fan of the Batman franchise.

Best lines: Creed, about Cornell: “It’s pronounced ‘kernel,’ and it’s the highest rank in the military.” And Michael, about his crumbling romance (and many other things): “I’m not going to give up easy; I’m going to make this way harder than it has to be.”

Unanswered questions: How was Darryl conscripted into driving? If Michael had stayed in Nashua, how did he plan to get back to Scranton?